Game 6
Morgan State (5-0) vs. Saint Francis-Pa. (0-4)
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022
Site: Baltimore, Md. (Hill Field House)
Tip-off: 5:30 p.m.
Series Record: Morgan leads, 1-0
T/V: N/A
Audio: Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN.com)
Live Stream: Here
Live Stats: Here
Websites: MorganStateBears.com | sfuathletics.com
 
BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 20, 2022)--The Morgan State women's basketball team will welcome the Red Flash of Saint Francis-Pa. to Hill Field House on Tuesday, Nov. 22 for a non-conference contest at 5:30 p.m. The game will be the sixth straight home contest for the Lady Bears to open the season.
 
HOW TO WATCH GAMES: All men's and women's basketball home games will be video streamed for free through the MorganStateBears.com website. The latest broadcast and video stream information will always be listed on men's and women's basketball schedule pages at MorganStateBears.com.
 
MEN'S & WOMEN'S BASKETBALL RADIO: All home games and select away games for MSU men's and women's basketball will once again be available through Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN.com). Lamont Germany will handle play-by-play responsibilities and will also host pre-game and post-game shows. Including exclusive interviews with members of the teams and women's coach Ed Davis and men's coach Kevin Broadus. Fans can download the HSRN app for free and listen to the MSU broadcasts from anywhere. Simply search for HSRN when using the iHeartRadio app.

BEAR CLAWS: Morgan State (5-0) extended its homecourt winning streak to 11 straight, following a 68-46 victory over Saint Peter's (11/18). Ja'Niah Henson scored a game-high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting to lead three Lady Bears in double figures scoring. Charlene Shepherd scored 12 points and had a game-high nine rebounds and a game-high five assists, while Sunshine McCrae came off the bench to score 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds. The Lady Bears would score 40 points off 29 Saint Peter's turnovers. Shepherd recorded a game-high five steals and Henson added four, as Morgan tallied 15 steals in the game.
  
A LOOK AT THE RED FLASH: Saint Francis-Pa. (0-4) dropped a 68-58 decision at home to Towson on Saturday. Layla Laws scored a team-high 15 points, had six rebounds and four assists in the loss. Filippa Goula added 11 points and six assists. Aaliyah Moore grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
 
MSU VS. SAINT FRANCIS-PA. SERIES NOTES: This will be the second meeting between the two programs. Morgan State won the lone previous meeting, 62-53 (12/21/07) in Baltimore, Md.
 
NEXT UP: Morgan State will play outside the continental US and spend the Thanksgiving holiday in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as it takes part in the Puerto Rico Clasico (Nov. 24-25). Morgan State will face Stephen F. Austin on Thursday, Nov. 24 in the opener and will close out the tournament against Boston College on Friday, Nov. 25.

MORGAN IN THE PUERTO RICO CLASICO: The Lady Bears will make their fifth appearance in the Puerto Rico Clasico event and the fourth trip to Puerto Rico. Morgan State, which is 0-7 in the tournament, first competed in the event during the 2016-17 season and attended four straight years from 2016-20. The 2017 tournament was moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. due to the damage of Hurricane Maria.
 
LADY BEARS OFF TO 5-0 START: Morgan State's 5-0 mark is the program's best season start since the 1983-84 team began the season 4-0.
 
FOURTH QUARTER LOCKDOWN: Morgan State has held four of its first five opponents to under 10 points in the fourth quarter, including an opponent low three points by Washington Adventist (11/16). The Lady Bears have outscored its opponents, 116-37 in the fourth quarter, thus far. Only Notre Dame of Maryland (11/14) scored in double figures (16 points) against Morgan in the fourth quarter.
 
PROTECTING THE 'HOUSE': With its win over Saint Peter's (11/18), Morgan State improved to 5-0 on the season, extended its home winning streak to 11 straight and has now won 31 of its last 34 home games dating back to the 2018-19 campaign. The Lady Bears went 9-1 at Hill Field House during the 2021-22 season. During an abbreviated 2020-21 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, MSU went 6-1 at Hill Field House. The season before that the Lady Bears concluded the 2019-20 campaign with a 10-1 home record, which was the program's best home court mark since the 2017-18 team finished 10-3.

IT TAKES A THEIF: Through five games, Morgan State has forced 137 opponent turnovers, while recording 80 steals. The Lady Bears forced a season-high 29 turnovers twice against Washington Adventist (11/16) and Saint Peter's (11/18), while recording a season-high 19 steals against Washington Adventist. Charlene Shepherd leads the Lady Bears with 18 steals, while Ja'Niah Henson and Taylor Addison have collected 12 and 10 steals, respectively.

HENSON NAMED MEAC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior guard Ja'Niah Henson was named MEAC Co-Player of the Week (11/15) along with Norfolk State's Kierra Wheeler. Henson averaged 16 points per game to help Morgan to a 3-0 start. The Baltimore, Md. native, shot a combined 18-of-36 (.500) from the floor and was 9-for-18 (.500) from three-point range. Henson opened the season with 16 points, while knocking down 3-for-4 three-pointers, four steals and two assists against Shepherd, then scored a game-high 22 points with four made three-pointers, four assists, four rebounds and three steals in a comeback win against Loyola Maryland. The 5-foot-3 guard ended the week with 10 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal against local foe Notre Dame (Md.).
 
BUTLER HAS BIG DAY: Freshman center Jael Butler had a career day in just the third game of her career as a Lady Bear. The 6-foot-2 native of Gilroy, Calif., scored a season-best 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting and added five rebounds, a steal and an assist in the win over Notre Dame of Maryland (11/14). 
 
BUMBRAY FROM THREE: Senior guard Maiya Bumbray came off the bench in the win over Notre Dame of Maryland and scored a career-high 12 points on a career-high four three-pointers made in 13 minutes of action against the Gators. 
 
THAT'S A FIRST: Last season the Lady Bears captured their first-ever MEAC regular season crown in program history, as they finished in a three-way tie with Howard and Norfolk State for a share of the MEAC crown. All three teams split the season series against one another going 1-1 and finished with identical 11-3 MEAC records. The team was honored during this Saturday's season finale football contest against Howard (11/19) and will be recognized again on Monday, Jan. 23 when both the women's and men's teams face Norfolk State.
 
MORGAN IN SEASON OPENERS: The Lady Bears improved to 13-33 all-time in season openers dating back to 1977, following their 78-39 victory over Shepherd in the season opener on Monday, Nov. 7. Morgan State at one point had lost 23 straight season openers prior to winning three straight from 2006-08.
  
MORGAN-LOYOLA MARYLAND RENEW SERIES: The Morgan State and Loyola women's basketball programs renewed their series last year on Dec. 8, 2021 after a 35-year hiatus. The Lady Bears would win on the road, 64-55. It was the first meeting between the two schools separated by 2.7 miles, since the 1985-86 season. The Lady Bears also claimed this season's contest, defeating the Greyhounds at home, 59-50 (11/10). Morgan State now leads the all-time series, 14-2.
 
2022-23 CAPTAINS ANNOUNCED: Morgan State graduate player Taylor Addison (Columbia, Md.) and senior Ja'Niah Henson (Baltimore, Md.) have been named this year's team captains for the 2022-23 campaign.
 
WELCOME HOME: A familiar face joined the Morgan State sideline this season with the addition of Tykyrah Williams as an assistant coach. Williams, who is no stranger to Morgan State, was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter for the Lady Bears from 2014-18. Williams finished her career scoring 1,068 points and pulled down 589 rebounds to become the seventh player at Morgan State to record more than 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. She ranks 13^th all-time in scoring, 10^th in rebounding and 12^th in steals on the Morgan State career charts.
   
MORGAN PICKED TO FINISH FOURTH IN MEAC: Morgan State was picked to finish fourth in the 2022-23 MEAC Preseason Poll. Last season the Lady Bears were picked to finish second for the second consecutive year and ended up finishing tied for first for the MEAC regular season crown with Howard and Norfolk State. It marked the program's first-ever MEAC regular season title.
 
2023 MEAC TOURNAMENT: The 2023 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) men's and women's basketball tournament is scheduled for March 8-11, 2023 at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va. The annual MEAC Basketball Tournament moved to Norfolk in 2013 after spending the previous four years in Winston-Salem, N.C. from 2009 through 2012.


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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.